Ukraine, Russia trade accusations over blowing up of major Dnipro dam VIDEO

Ukraine's Operational Command South has said that Russian forces have blown up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the River Dnipro.

"Russian occupying troops have blown up the [dam of the] Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The scale of destruction, speed and volumes of water, as well as likely areas to be flooded, are being established. All the services are working. The situation is being monitored," the command said on Facebook on June 6.

The head of the Kherson regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, warned that the water "will reach a critical level in five hours" and called on the residents of the region's population centres in the eastern bank to "immediately leave to save your lives".

Dozens of population centres in both Ukrainian- and Russian-controlled parts of the Kherson Region may be affected by flooding.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) over the blowing up of the dam.

Відео з мікрорайону Корабел у Херсоні станом на ранок 6 червня. Затоплені приватні будинки, гаражі, вода прибуває. Відео Суспільного pic.twitter.com/yQkkQaI4Ac

— Українська правда ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) June 6, 2023

Meanwhile, Vladimir Leontyev, the "head" of Nova Kakhovka, in the occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson Region claimed that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was damaged as a result of night shelling by Ukrainian forces.

"At about two o'clock in the morning, a series of multiple strikes were carried out on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, which destroyed the shutters - these are the so-called valves. As a result, water from the Kakhovka reservoir began to be discharged downstream uncontrollably," Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

According to TASS, 11 out of 28 spans of the power station were destroyed and 80 settlements might be at risk of flooding.